Tracking

May 2011

May 31, 2011

Scientific American reports on the plight of the management bee - 30% loss this winter again in the US. Bees provide around $15 billion worth of economic good per year via pollination and other efforts.- check out the article.

May 30, 2011

BBC News reports that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has announced that Russia is to lift a ban on exporting grain from 1 July. "The export ban was put in place in August last year, following an unprecedented drought and the widespread outbreak of wildfires. Millions of tonnes of crops were lost, cutting output by some 37%. Russia is the world's third biggest producer of wheat, barley and rye and the ban contributed to a sharp rise in global wheat prices. In 2009, Russia exported a quarter of its annual grain output of 97 million tonnes. But in 2010 it produced only 61m tonnes, and the government ruled that as 80m was needed for domestic consumption, none could be sent elsewhere. The ban had been due to expire last December, but was extended over concerns of another shortfall. The official forecast for the 2011 wheat crop has now been set at 85-90m tonnes and there had been concerns that excess crops could go to waste if the ban were not lifted". Follow the link to read the full article.

May 29, 2011

BBC News reports that the number of deaths attributed to the cucumbers has now increased in ten. Our sister blog Food Safety Chat identifies all the food safety recalls over the last four years that are attributed to fresh produce. First reports determined that the batch of cucumbers were organic but current press reports do not identify this.

As the investigation develops then traceability systems will be tested as well as farm assurance standards - were the cucumbers from a farm assured source? The Institute of Food Science and Technology has written a Produce Safety Statement which highlights the need for good agricultural practice . This is especially important when producing foods that do not contain a cooking stage to reduce pathogens (harmful bacterial) to a safe level e.g. cucumbers.

"The underlying point though is whether we should have pre-requisite programmes (farm assurance) in place to minimise the risk of contamination of our food ...... Would I want to eat food that was safe but had been irradiated because there was:

No food safety risk assessment;

No irrigation water standards;

No personal hygiene programme;

No pest control programme (rats, mice etc);

No premises and equipment hygiene standards;

No intake inspection and supplier approval process;

No packaging control procedures;

No training procedures?"

In time we will see what the source of this E.coli bacteria turns out to be - in previous outbreaks it has usually been either contaminated irrigation water or incorrect practices with organic manures (rather than artificial chemicals). This incident is not alone however and practices have changed radically in Europe for those who are farm assured since the Europe wide Shigella outbreak in 1994 associated with Spanish lettuce. Last year, there was an E.coli 0145 outbreak in the US associated with romaine lettuce and this month in the US recalls for tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers last month for Salmonella.

Check out the Red Tractor farm assurance standard for more details. Globally the assurance standard is called GlobalGAP.

Postscript: Further research after this post has suggested that Spain may not be the source of the infection as highlighted in the initial media reports.

May 28, 2011

I have been following the development of this outbreak all this week. The Telegraph reports that the outbreak started in Germany where five people have died and a further 270 have been confirmed as having the bacterium. Around 500 more are being tested for the infection.

Three people in the UK who had travelled from Germany recently have also fallen ill after becoming infected with the rare form of E. Coli. Organic cucumbers from Spain are initially thought to be the source of the bacteria. The Health Protection Agency has now issued advice for travellers to Germany to avoid eating raw tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers. Cucumbers are currently also being recalled in the US for potential salmonella contamination.

Science Insider reports that "German researchers suspect cucumbers from Spain are the source of a massive enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) outbreak that has hit the northern parts of the country. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), so far 214 patients have developed hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS), a potentially deadly complication of an EHEC infection, characterized by a destruction of red blood cells and severe kidney problems. At least two patients have died.

Local authorities in Hamburg announced today that they had isolated the bacterium that is likely causing the outbreak, E. coli O104:H4 , from four cucumbers. Three of the samples came from a big market in Hamburg that sells to greengrocer's shops as well as restaurants and caterers. Those cucumbers came from two organic producers in Spain. Scientists had speculated in the last few days that manure from infected animals used on an organic farm might have spread the bacteria to vegetables. A fourth sample came from a restaurant, and it was not immediately clear where that cucumber had been grown. After the announcement, stores started taking Spanish cucumbers off the shelves".

May 27, 2011

The Independent reports that the Health Protection Agency (HPA) is investigating an outbreak of E.coli after five cases were confirmed at a primary school.

"Edge Primary School, in Bristol, was closed on May 20 after three pupils became ill. The children were taken to hospital for treatment, and one was still being treated today. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said it was now looking at other primary schools in the area where milder symptoms have been reported. The HPA said that in the last week parents of 40 pupils at Redfield Edge School had reported mostly milder symptoms in children including stomach ache and diarrhoea, with some experiencing more severe symptoms. The agency added that all affected children were being laboratory tested for E.coli O157. The source of the infection is still unknown".

May 26, 2011

Warning of a likely imminent upsurge of a deadly pig disease in the Caucasus region and Russian Federation, the FAO has called on affected countries to step up precautionary measures and for a concerted international effort to prevent the infection spreading more widely across the Northern Hemisphere. “African swine fever is fast becoming a global issue,” said Juan Lubroth, FAO’s Chief Veterinary Officer. “It now poses an immediate threat to Europe and beyond. Countries need to be on the alert and to strengthen their preparedness and contingency plans.”

Measures recommended for countries by FAO include risk analyses to evaluate the situation and assess potential consequences. Such analyses should pave the way for fully-fledged contingency plans and provide the rationale for selecting disease-control strategies. Importantly, there is currently no vaccine for the disease, which is very often lethal to pigs but is not harmful to humans.

May 25, 2011

The FAO Media Centre reports that the "FAO is stepping in to assist farmers in Iraq and Syria battle with silverleaf nightshade (Solanum elaeagnifolium), an invasive alien weed that sucks nutrients from the soil and starves crops of valuable water and whose berries can poison livestock if ingested. A relative of the tomato originally hailing from tropical America, silverleaf nightshade has very deep roots and is also covered in spines, making it difficult to pull out of the ground. The weed probably arrived in the Near-East as a result of globalization of trade, its seeds hidden in containers or in bags of agricultural commodities. It is spreading in the region on trucks and animals, or in crop seeds that have not been checked for quality assurance". Follow the link to read the full article.

May 24, 2011

Supporting countries to take the lead in their own sustainable development and food security by putting greater emphasis on capacity development has become a renewed priority for FAO according to the FAO Media Centre. This was emphasized by the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to FAO on 6 May 2011 to discuss rising food prices.

"[The international community] must work to support countries carry out solutions that they take the lead in designing and implementing. We want to help countries and those who live and farm within the countries to actually bolster their own long-term capacity for agricultural growth," Clinton said. Capacity development is now recognized as a core function of FAO, and a launch ceremony was held at its headquarters on 10 May 2011 to draw attention to the Organization's new Corporate ٍٍStrategy on Capacity Development. In this renewed approach, development results will not only be measured by short-term outputs but also by how FAO engages local, national, and regional actors. FAO programmes will place greater emphasis on policy support, knowledge sharing, partnering, and sustainability.

May 23, 2011

A rising tide of diseases caused by poor diet and couch potato lifestyles are costing the health service more than £6bn a year – around twice as much as the amount spent on ill health linked to smoking or alcohol, according to a new study. The paper, by experts from Oxford University and the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention, says obesity and poor diet now place "the largest economic burden" on the NHS of all lifestyle choices.